Obscure Christmas Part 2: Another Side Of Lieutenant Dan or Johnny Drama's Other Entourage.

(The "Obscure Christmas Series" is a continuation of some of the more lesser-known films inside the holiday canon and/or just movies that failed to ignite the box office and disappeared into a snowy oblivion.)

Keith Gordon's A Midnight Clear : 15 years ago, I had never heard of this movie.  Then I started seeing the VHS in stores for rent at Blockbuster, but I never sought it out to find out what it was.  Surprisingly, a friend of mine told me about it and said it was one of his favorite movies of all time. If you knew my friend then you would know that I was so skeptical about it because our tastes in movies are so opposite, it's always a battle to the death when we talk about them. (We've had an ongoing war about Raising Arizona for years. He loves it, I don't. Yeah, I know...I'm a traitor and a pathetic individual, but I'm sorry, the movie ain't funny to me.) But that's for another post.

The story is based on a novel by William Wharton and takes place in France towards the end of World War II.  The year is December 1944, and a cast that includes Ethan Hawke, Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, and Lieutenant Dan himself, Gary Sinise.  Surprises abound during a snowy night when this group of American soldiers encounters a German platoon and what their demands end up being.

What's important about the film is that you should know almost nothing about it when going into it, so all I will say is that this is a poetic Christmas fable, filled with excellent performances and assured direction, and keep in mind it was released 6 years before Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.  The movie explores the certain horrors of war and the ascension of boys to men...to MotownPhilly and back again. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

The film recently went out-of-print on DVD, so finding it may be more difficult than finding a good Michael Bay movie, but if you ever come across it, give it a watch.  Disappointing is the fact that the disc was in the fullscreen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, so the gorgeous snowy landscape cinematography cannot be enjoyed to the fullest.  Director Keith Gordon has gone on record (albeit 4 years ago) saying that there has been a remastered anamorphic widescreen print with a new sound mix created for a new disc, but due to legal issues with the monsters at the movie studios, a new DVD and Blu-Ray have yet to surface or be available in stores. (Thanks so much, Sony.)

Seek it out, find it. And if you can't find the DVD, the film is posted up on YouTube.*

A Midnight Clear, 1992
Grade: A -

*The YouTube print appears to be widescreen, but with its framing this blogger cannot be entirely sure.  Damn, I hate it when I don't know these things.